My September

September turned out to be a very varied month. After enjoying my holidays, life got back to normal with a vengeance. I came home with an inflamed tendon in my left hand and as I'm ambidextrous, it has caused a bit of a problem. I'm not allowed to do much sewing (on doctor's orders) and a lot of other things have been slower than usual to accomplish.

 

I have done some sewing of hexagons for my tablecloth and have started to huge task of sorting out the sewing room. Greg and I pulled out all the stuff that had been dumped in there over the past few months (it's now cluttering up the dining room while I sort it out). When we first started to set up the sewing room last year we purchased some storage units and bookcases and I am filling them up.

 

The white units with the storage boxes are making things so easy to sort and find as I'm labelling each box with the contents. And the bookcases with the magazine holders have tidied up the massive collection of magazines nicely.

 

During the tidy-up process I came across three more completed quilts, which I've added to my quilt page as well as here.

Tree of Life Lullaby

 

Memories from Wyndham

Crazy Log Cabin

We have just had a long-weekend here in Canberra and we spent the Saturday visiting the Embroiderer's Guild exhibition and the Egyptian Embassy where the Tentmakers of Cairo had a display of their work. It was lovely to see all the embroidery at the Guild show and I picked up a kit on the recycle table which I started and have done just over half of. It's a change from patchwork and I'm really enjoying it.

The front of the cross-stitch kit

The cross stitch in progress

 

I took lots of photos at the tentmaker's display and here are just a few.

 



 

 

Greg and I spent Sunday and Monday working on sorting out the garden bed in the back yard with the fishpond in it. The soil level had dropped and we had pulled out the overgrown mess of iris and rush in the pond itself. The mondo grass at the front of the pond still needs thinning out and the rush and papyrus that has self-set in it needs removing but we simply ran out of time late yesterday to finish it off. I have taken a few photos.

 



The left hand side of the garden bed

The right hand side of the garden bed



A close-up of the pond with goldfish

Home again

I'm home again after the second part of my holidays, visiting my parents in Adelaide. I spent 8 days relaxing with them, doing a little shopping, driving Mum and Dad around and helping with the cooking. I made the most of the time and did quite a bit of stitching on my hexagon tablecloth, completing another row and having Mum help with the layout of the colours for the next row.

 

I was with them for Father's Day, for the first time in many years, so it was special. We went out for dinner on the Monday following the day to a lovely Chinese restaurant only 5 minutes from their home.

 

Mum and Dad at dinner at Orientai

In the few days between my trip north with hubby and the trip to Adelaide, I washed and pressed all the batiks I bought on the trip so they are ready for use when I get time to start on Love Entwined.

 

Batik collection bought for Love Entwined

I also came home to see my orchid in full bloom, such a lovely sight. It usually lives on the kitchen windowsill, but I've moved it into the lounge room so I can admire it while the flowers last.

 

My orchid in bloom

During the time I was cleaning up a few bits and pieces, I came across 2 small quilts that had been taken down from the wall when we put up the new photo frames, Pushka made in 1997 and Periwinkle made in 2008. I've added details of them to My Quilts page.

Pushka

Periwinkle

 

The rest of our holiday

On Sunday we left Brisbane and headed for the Sunshine Coast. We took a few detours on tourist drives along the way. We followed route 24 through the Glass House Mountains and then on the route 23 through the Blackall Ranges. The scenery was amazing and we both thoroughly enjoyed the detour. The scenery at the lookout for the Glass House Mountains was breathtaking, and I also enjoyed seeing the mosaics on the pathways.

A view of the Glass House Mountains

One of the mosaics on the pathways at the lookout

 

A closer view of part of the Glass House Mountains

 

We arrived in Mooloolaba in time for lunch and checked into the motel. The afternoon was spent relaxing and going for a walk through town. Before dinner we visited a couple who make plecostomus caves and bought some for the fish tanks at home. We found a really lovely Thai restaurant only a few minutes walk from the motel where we had dinner.

 

Monday dawned and we headed for Underwater World in time for them opening. We spent a couple of hours there in the morning and then walked into the main street for lunch, going back to the aquarium for a few more hours in the afternoon. We took so many photos of fish and the seals were amazing as well.

A crocodile swimming in one of the tanks

A sawfish

Elaine at Underwater World

One of the seals posing for photos

The trainer with the smaller of the seals

A Weedy Sea Dragon



On Tuesday we headed north, visiting the Big Pineapple and the Buderim Ginger Factory. We had a lovely tour of the factory then drove further north to Gympie for lunch. Afterwards we meandered our way inland and ended up in Kingaroy where we spent the night.

 

Wednesday saw us driving through Toowoomba, and stopping for a bit of retail therapy at 2 patchwork shops, then on to Goondiwindi for another night. On Thursday we headed through Moree, Narrabri and Coonabarabran for another drive through the Warrumbungles. They looked so different in the afternoon light. We then stopped in Gilgandra for the night.

 

The weather on Friday was not so nice, cool and windy. We headed through Dubbo towards the Parkes Radio Telescope for a lunch stop. Then on to Canowindra where we visited the Age of Fishes Museum. After spending over an hour doing the audio tour which was very interesting, we decided to head for home a day early as we were only just over 2 hours away and the weather forecast for Saturday was not nice.

 

Life is getting back to normal, lots of washing to catch up on and I've laid out all the batiks I bought on the trip on the dining room table, ready to wash and iron so that I can get started on Love Entwined.

Inverell to Brisbane and the Quilt Exhibition

We left the motel in Inverell nice and early on Wednesday morning and went to Beaurepaires to get a slow leak in one of the car's tyres fixed. They were extremely helpful and mended the tyre without delay. One worry gone, then after a nice stroll up and down the main street, we visited the Inverell Family History Society where the volunteers were extremely helpful and looked for all sorts of interesting titbits on my mother-in-law's family, she was born in Inverell.

Inverell Courthouse

 

Armed with a folder full of newspaper clippings and a map of the cemetery, we drove to the Inverell General Cemetery to look for my mother-in-law's grandparents graves. Unfortunately there were no headstones, but we did manage to locate her 2 brothers grave, both were killed in World War 2. On the way back into town we drove past the place were mother was born and used to live, it was a garden centre in the 1920's but that has long gone.

Then we drove onto Glen Innes where we had a lovely late lunch in a noodle shop. Across the road was a great fabric shop so I picked up a few threads for the 2013 Canberra Quilters ROWmakers blocks I am working on and a fat quarter of pink/apricot fabric for Love Entwined.

We headed on and arrived in Stanthorpe where we stayed for the evening. Whilst walking up the street heading for dinner, we spoke to lady who was locking up the patchwork shop, we are going back in the morning.

I spent a lovely time checking out the fabrics in the patchwork shop on Thursday morning and couldn't resist a jelly roll of 50 strips of blue/turquoise fabrics and 2m of a red/orange batik for Love Entwined.

The Jelly Roll and 2m piece from Stanthorpe and the fat quarter from Glen Innes

 

We then drove through the Granite Belt, lovely scenery, into Brisbane. Greg's first port-of-call was "Age of Aquariums" - he has been buying stuff on-line from them and wanted to see the place firsthand. We ended up spending nearly 2 hours there, and Greg picked up quite a few bits and pieces he needs for his aquariums and pond.

We checked into a motel in Eight Mile Plains, with a Chinese restaurant attached where we had a really lovely meal.

 

Friday morning arrived and we travelled into Brisbane by bus, no worry that way about parking. We arrived about 9am and the quilt exhibition didn't open until 10am, so Greg suggested we go for a stroll over the river into the city centre. So off we went. The walk took us all the way up Ann Street to St John's Cathedral. It is a glorious building, the stonework is really lovely, as are the stained glass windows.

St John's Anglican Cathedral

We walked past Anzac Park, I love the boab trees and the monuments and statues were amazing.

 

Boab Tree in Anzac Park

Anzac Memorial

Many of the buildings in the city centre are made of the same stone used in the Cathedral, it's a local stone.

 

After lunch we headed back to the Queensland Art Gallery and the Quilt Exhibition. I spent a couple of hours looking at the quilts. They were amazing. Some had such tiny pieces of applique, others were very simple but none-the-less beautiful.

 

Afterwards we had a lovely walk along Southbank, went for a ride on the Wheel of Brisbane (ferris wheel) and browsed the Southbank market before heading back to the motel.

Wheel of Brisbane

 

Nepalese Temple at Southbank

 

Meantime, amidst the travelling and sightseeing, I have managed to do a bit of sewing. I have completed the two blocks for the Canberra Quilters 2013 ROWmakers challenge. Blocks 3 and 4 are now ready to be made into courthouse steps. I am making a tablerunner with the theme flowers. Blocks 1 and 2 are at home, 3 and 4 with me now complete, and 5 and 6 waiting to be started. I have also worked on my baby hexagons and last night I pulled out one of the rows for the 2012 ROWmakers challenge that needed a bit of applique and embroidery to complete.

Block 3

Block 4

 Saturday we spent driving around the suburbs. Greg wanted to visit a couple of aquarium shops, both we visited had such lovely ranges of things. We bought some hollow logs at one shop for our tanks. he also took me to 4 patchwork shops where I picked up more batik fabric for Love Entwined.

We're off on our holiday

After the wedding, we spent the Sunday with my sister and the happy couple came for lunch. Bryan and Elizabeth spent a happy hour sitting on the lounge room floor opening their presents amidst many oohs and aahs as each new gift was unwrapped. After lunch we took them to the airport as they left on their honeymoon.

Bryan and Elizabeth opening their presents



The next three days were spent relaxing and catching up on housework and other chores like shopping etc that had been on hold.

 

I spent Thursday 8th August - Sunday 11th August at the Canberra Quilters Annual Show assisting the treasurer in the "Treasury". It was a lovely few days helping out and getting to see all the quilts made by members. I always enjoy my time at the show as I also get to spend time with the other members getting to know them better.

 

Monday morning was the beginning of our two week holiday heading for Brisbane via the inland route. We left bright and early in the wet weather Canberra had put on. At least we were planning on spending most of the day driving so it wasn't going to spoil anything. We drove through Boorowa and Cowra and then on to Wellington via Canowindra and Molong. We stopped in Wellington to buy picnic food for lunch and I also picked up a piece of fabric for my new quilt Love Entwined. I decided to buy bits of applique fabric as we travelled that I would be able to use in the quilt. I am looking forward to being able to start after my holiday.

 

After our picnic we drove though Dubbo and then on the Mendooran Road to Coonabarabran for an overnight stop. Another piece of fabric joined us as well.

 

Tuesday dawned bright and clear if a bit frosty, so we were quite pleased. After an early breakfast we headed into the Warrumbungle National Park. The area has been badly affected by the fire in January 2013 where about 80% of the park was destroyed. It was amazing to see all the surviving trees with regrowth. It is something I hadn't seen before.

 

One view of the Warrumbungles

 



 Many of the walking tracks are still closed but one short one has reopened so Greg and I had a lovely walk to the Whitegum Lookout. The views were spectacular and I took many photos of trees with the new growth.



 

Regrowth on many of the trees



A close-up of the eucalyptus regrowth

We then headed to the Siding Springs Observatory where we looked at the displays and saw the telescopes.

 

The observatory

A closeup view of the telescope

One of the sculptures in the observatory garden





 

We again had a picnic lunch while travelling from Coonabarabran through Gunnedah, Manilla, Barraba, Warialda and ending the day in Inverell. This is through much of the area my husband's mother's family came from so it was lovely to see the area. We are planning on heading to the Family History Centre this morning to see if they have any information on the different branches of the family tree.

Bryan and Elizabeth's Wedding Day

Well, the big day finally arrived and all the sewing was done. It was such a relief to sew the buttons on Nat's doublet on Friday morning and put away all the sewing paraphernalia. The weather on Saturday turned out to be fine and sunny but slightly windy. In a Canberra winter, we were very fortunate.

After arriving at All Saints' Church in Ainslie, everyone stood outside in the sunshine until it was nearly time for the bride to arrive.

The best man Nat (left) and the groom Bryan (right)

Nat, Elaine (mother of the groom - myself) and Bryan

Father of the Groom - Greg (centre) with both his sons

Me and my sister Carol, her husband was unable to come to Canberra
 

Greg's brother Geoff and his wife Cheryl

Greg's sister Bronwyn and her husband Graeme
 

Then the time arrived for us to wait inside for the bridal party to arrive, and time to take a few more photos.

Bryan waiting for his bride to arrive

 I managed to take a few shots during the wedding service.

Bryan and Elizabeth with the Rev'd Dr Sarah Macneil at the beginning of the ceremony



The Rev'd Dr Sarah Macneil pronouncing Bryan and Elizabeth as man and wife 



The first kiss



Signing the register

Elizabeth (in close-up) with the bouquet that I made

 

Leaving the church

We then spent a lovely hour or so having photos taken outside the church and spending time chatting both outside in the sun and in the church hall with a cuppa.

The reception was at Gold Creek Tourist Resort in their function room and started with drinks and canapés and then onto the dinner with all the traditional speeches and bridal waltz. The meal consisted of an entrée of either smoked salmon or chicken and pasta, followed the main of steak or mango chicken, and macadamia cheesecake, lemon meringue tart or fruit salad for dessert.

Rev'd Sarah and my sister Carol at dinner

 

Bryan and Elizabeth at the start of the main course

  

The wedding cake with cake topper of fresh flowers

 

Cutting the cake with a sword

 

After the cake was cut

 

The Bridal Waltz

Greg (my husband) was the Master of Ceremonies



The day was a wonderful celebration of Bryan and Elizabeth's love for each other and was celebrated  in the style of SCA where the happy couple met.

 

Today has been spent in a relaxed mode, my sister Carol is still in town and has spent the day with us. Bryan and Elizabeth came for lunch and spent a happy hour sitting on the lounge room floor unwrapping their presents and other gifts from yesterday before we drove them to the airport as they head off on their honeymoon.

 

Tomorrow life will get back to normal and I will start on my patchwork again - for 3 days, as the Canberra Quilt Show starts on Thursday and I will be there all 4 days helping the treasurer with the financial side of things. And then Greg and I are off on holiday for a couple of weeks.